Seared Fish, Garlic Roasted Leeks & Potatoes with Celery & Olive Salad

i haven’t cooked crap for the last year. obviously. crickets. cooking for the week feels like a chore, and i really stopped enjoying cooking. it’d take a solid hour to write a menu, and make a shopping list. then, off to the grocery store to fight the checkout lanes with grumpy biddies–who argue about bogos and .30/lb bananas. and also, the cashiers–they ask too many questions. i don’t want to tell you what i’m doing this weekend! and finally, i’d spend 3-4 hours cooking meals for the week, and another hour cleaning the damn dishes.

 

enter blue apron. i read about blue apron somewhere on the interwebz. they make your menu, and send all the ingredients, pre-portioned. all you do it cook it and clean it up. so check and check. also, three more checks: 1. pre-portioned means i won’t overeat, 2. new and cool ingredients that i don’t usually buy (so new! so shiny!), and 3. vegetables (i don’t eat enough of ’em). i had to try it out.

 

blue apron is not sponsoring this post, nor did they pay me or send me any food. i paid full price for this. anyway.

 

you get an email each week showing the 3 meals they’re sending (with the option to skip if they look blah). it costs $9.99 per person, per meal (shipping included). which is kind of a lot, but since we’ve been eating out more and more often, spending either the same of more for kinda crappy food, i felt validated (i mean yeahhh, there’s chipotle, but i get sick of it.). this works really well as a supplement to the quick & easy stuff i usually do each week (eggs, oatmeal, etc.).

 

my first shipment came friday. we got home from the gym around 8:30 that night, and found these giant boxes sitting at our door. i opened it up, and everything i needed for making 3 curated meals (including the step-by-step recipes) was included–except cooking fat, pepper, and salt. it was freaking adorbs. everything was labeled, and you get all these cute bottles and containers. i got pretty excited. it was weird.

blue apron

 

there was this fish dish, an asian chicken with rice and ponzu, and pork chop croque monsieur with a bacon and radish salad.

 

it was all sooooo good.

 

the first thing i made was fish with roasted leeks & potatoes, and a celery, parsley & olive salad (more like a garnish salad, not a side-dish salad). it sounded pretty fancy pants, but look about 40 minutes total (potatoes took forever, i should have cut them smaller.), and clean up was not bad at all. i bought the 3 meals for 4 people subscription, hoping i could squeak out 3 meals–one big one for b and 2 normal ones for me. so that’s why you see 2 of everything above.

 

fish. love. roasted anything…again, totally love. but a salad made of mostly celery and parsley, i was turning my nose up at it. to me, parsley tastes like dirt and celery just isn’t something i like in salad–it reminds me of health food. but truly, honestly…this salad was amazing. i will make the taters & leeks, and salad again for sure.

 

i made a few adjustments to the recipe, so here’s what went down in its entirety.

 

these photos come courtesy of my iphone 4 (i left my camera at the gym). sorry y’all.

 

potatoes

 

for the garlic roasted leeks & potatoes

  • 1-1/2 pounds of fingerling potatoes, cut in half (the smaller you cut them, the faster they’ll cook)
  • 4 leeks, trimmed of tops and roots, cut into strips and washed well
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • butter, olive oil for drizzling
  • salt
  • 1 t piment d’Espelette (or red chili flakes and some paprika mixed together)

 

method

 

preheat your oven to 400ºF.

 

line a baking sheet with foil. lightly drizzle the foil with olive oil.

 

 

add the potatoes and leeks to the pan. top with garlic, lemon zest, dots of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. sprinkle with piment d’Espelette and be generous with the salt.

 

cover with a piece of foil. roast for 15 minutes. remove the foil and roast for another 10-15 minutes. make sure the potatoes are soft!

 

meanwhile, we’ll make the salad…

 

 

blue-apron-salad

for the celery and olive salad

  • 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 16 kalamata olives, chopped
  • 5-6 sprigs of parsley, minced
  • juice of 1 to 1-1/2 lemons
  • 2 T olive oil
  • salt, to taste (remember, olives are salty (i forgot))

 

method

 

in a bowl, combine all the ingredients. toss to combine. taste and adjust seasoning. place in the fridge until ready to serve.

 

fish

 

for the fish

  • 4 filets of firm white fish (cod and mahi are my faves-easy to cook (and not overcook))
  • 1 t butter and 1 t olive oil for the pan
  • 1 t piment d’Espelette (or red chili flakes and some paprika mixed together)
  • salt, to taste

 

for the fish

 

once the potatoes are about ready to come out, start the fish.

 

heat a (non-stick!!) saute pan over medium heat. melt your fat. sprinkle the fish filets with spices and salt. saute until done in the center, about 3 minutes on one side, and 2 minutes on the other.

 


Comments

3 responses to “Seared Fish, Garlic Roasted Leeks & Potatoes with Celery & Olive Salad”

  1. I AM IN LOVE with that celery olive salad!!

  2. […] better now, since I’m posting recipes again. But even before I got to this point, I tried Blue Apron (which was delicious, but got too carb-y and didn’t seem worth  the dough) and we’re […]

  3. […] better now, since I’m posting recipes again. But even before I got to this point, I tried Blue Apron (which was delicious, but got too carb-y and didn’t seem worth  the dough) and we’re […]

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